No External Lintels

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Cej2002
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No External Lintels

Post by Cej2002 »

Hi,

I am hoping someone might be able to help me.

I have a 1960’s house and I understand that the lintel over structural openings is typically insitu concrete cast against the brickwork which would have been built over the window frame.

I have read that when removing the original windows and replacing with UPVC this often causes cracking as the new UPVC windows can’t take the load.

I definitely have this type of lintel In my house. The the lintel above the garage can be clearly seen and the soldier course is clearly connected, but what I don’t understand is how the garage solider course (which is unsupported and has been for many years) is completely rock solid?

Were the solider courses ever dowel fixed (or similar) into the concrete lintels when cast?

My house had UPVC windows when we bought it which I would say were circa 30 years old. There are no cracks above the windows and some of the windows are over 2 meters wide.

I’ve only started thinking about this as we have recently upgraded the old UPVC windows and I’m about to render and so was thinking about dowel fixing through the existing soldier courses into the concrete lintel to add some extra strength, but if it was typical to do this at the time of construction it could be pointless.

Thanks
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